How very precious
these jewels are.
I should really be
more mindful of
their value.
Each one
a stunning example;
the absolute perfect thing
for the moment in question.
They are,
without question,
the utterly flawless embodiment
of the Dharma
in action,
and should be
housed in
a stuppa of their own;
a reliquary that holds
the venerated remains
of a great and... Read More

I just felt like being a kiab today. Generally, a weakly written piece this is. Lots and lots of words that said very little and went generally nowhere. I'm pretty sure I'd have been interested in it if Will Wheaton wrote on the topic. Oh, wait. He did. I feel better already. Wil gets zeitgeist.

I haven't kept up with your blogs--I don't spend all that much time here these days--too busy with my three classes that I teach (Tao Teh Ching in my own translation, Plato's Republic, a little of my own and a lot of Thomas Taylor, and the Katha Upanishad all my own translation also a WIP)

I just want to say to you that I spent 3 very important years of my life in a zen-like monastery. Left the grounds 4 times, only my dad came to visit me of my immediate family--in fact I invited him to stay for a few weeks, which he did. Perhaps the greatest gift he ever gave me. He was a born-again Christian but also a very loving man who managed to keep his Christian trippiness to himself. He just came, prayed when we meditated (which was long and often) kept silence from dawn to dusk and then had his own interview with our roshi-type guy.

Staying there cost me some progress and position in the world of career--or so I expected when I went in. As it happened I went in a computer tech guy and came out a full-fledged astrologer, which I've now done professionally for quite some time.

Thanks to those years my practice got grounded for life; I now sit 2 hours a day minimum and up to 6 hours at a time on weekends. I make my students sit for at least 3 hours with me every other week, and an hour the rest of the time. (Don't want any breakdowns or false breakthroughs--if they want the latter, they'll have to learn to push like that on their own, even as I did). My teacher beat the living shit out of my will, ego, and mind. It hurt like hell and I lived half the time in a fog of confusion and resentment and the other half in a state of clarity.
When it finally had to end--a big death in the family and a few other events made it clear that I was beginning to just recycle--I was just relieved and hardly cared.

it was a few years before the existential change in my nature began to really show, and from that moment forward there was no longer any content or baggage around the stay; it came forward with my life, and more often than not lives slightly ahead of me, if that makes any sense.

so all this is to strongly encourage you (BTW I planned on a three month stay!) and to stick with it until the fruit ripens and falls by itself. there is really no better way to spend a few years. bon voyage and keep your knees well-oiled!

So I'm seriously thinking of packing all my shit in boxes, stuffing it in a storage unit, and going and living at my sangha's monastery about 70mi from here. I can live there cheaper than anyplace else. I'll be with friends and people who care about me. All my needs will be met, food and everything else, for much less than it... Read More

a) I'll be here 'till March
b) I'm leaving again for a few reasons which include, but are not limited to:
* money
* lack of interest in SG (the premise, not the people)
* a change in the character of my life, and SG not fitting in with it anymore
* over-all fuq-all attitude lately
c) You... Read More

I'm not trying to be funny, because I'm not really I'm just not that good at good byes and actually eventhough I'm not on here at all really any more either.... I liked reading you and guess I will kinda miss it! There said it.

I'm likely to go gray again soon. It will sort-of match my life at the moment. I'm okay; just slogging through lots of shat at the moment. I wanted to pop back into SG land and reconnect with some old friends. I will most likely come and go. Feel free to keep up with me at my blog.

Just returned from Laos, Cambodia and some Thailand sneaked in at the end. Will be sorry to see you go again, I've seen so little of your return. I will check out your blog though and read you when you pop back next time. XX

yes everything was as should be. Some things great, some things a challenge and some things downright scary but necessary all the same, I guess. Laos was beautiful yet slightly boring, Cambodia was quite the opposite, rather an ugly (raped) landscape but a real tangible buzz of energy. Phnom penh must have been the seediest city I've ever been to, haha! The killingfields etc left quite an impression too. Thailand was as always like coming home, peace, friendliness, ease, good weather/food & life in general. Met some great/interesting/nice/lovely people, some assholes too, haha. Yep, 2010 I'll go back to Asia again I hope. Save save save now. \

So what are you up to and why are you off again? I must say my motivation on the site has yet to return, I've been on once or twice this past week but have abso*bleeding*lutely no desire to write anything, anywhere. Haha, so do feel honored by this little entry here, lol